This outfit consists of a diverse coalition of concerned political and business leaders (some of them very-big-name) and boasts an admirable mission centered on creating a more equitable world. If you’re a talented communications pro and an ideas-person with a passion for justice and humane policy, you’d do extremely well in this role, where you’ll set and execute on a strategy for media relations. It’s all about raising the organization’s profile, getting its staff and advisors out into the limelight and helping them crush their messaging. This is big-time external-comms stuff, at the national level.
Nitty Gritty
Two closely related goals will inform your every move here: Increasing the profile of the organization, setting it squarely at the center of public-policy discussion; and spreading its ideas and unique bipartisan approach to problem-solving. You’ll pull out all the stops to make those things happen, whether it’s calling on media contacts to see to it that your folks become regulars on morning news shows, establishing partnerships with publications, designing fresh new media campaigns, hitting up members of the press, writing releases and email blasts, or other things that you can think of but we can’t. You’ll do a ton of collaborating, both with the senior people you’re putting out into the public eye as well as with digital comms folk, audience development pros, marketers, and others. You’ll monitor the media daily, compiling relevant press clips, and you’ll aid with digital efforts.
To those who’ll be making press appearances, you’ll act something like a personal trainer or coach: You’ll prepare talking points, serve as a sounding board and practice audience, and give feedback and pointers regarding how to stay on-message and how to distill an argument down into nice digestible chunks. You’ll know you’ve done your job well when this outfit has become a household name and when you’d be hard-put to overhear a conversation about the key issues without a mention of your organization.
Hired Gun Profile
Obviously we’ll need to see that external communications have been a key focus of yours for the ten years or so that you’ve been in the field. You’ll have developed communications strategies and have been successful getting stories into national and local media outlets. You have experience working with high-profile, media-savvy people (in business and/or politics) but still found ways of enhancing their already impressive communication skills. Perhaps armed with a timeline or line graph, you can point to an organization or two and demonstrate that a steep increase in its profile coincided with your tenure. You’ve shown yourself to be both an out-of-the-box solutions machine as well as a dirt-under-the-fingernails type who busts ass to get those solutions up and running and succeeding. You collaborate like your life depends on it.
Inside Skinny
While a background in policy is not required here, we doubt that someone lacking passion for current events would thrive in the role.
Net Net
If you live for the challenge of seeing a deserving brand begin to receive the attention and credibility it deserves, this is a great opportunity to throw yourself into some truly important work that’ll put you on the front lines of a crucial national discussion.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, creed, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital status, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.